Fifth Anniversary Update
Hello my friends, and welcome back to my blog.
It was very recently the fifth anniversary of my podcast, and I released my first new episode for some time, and so I thought I might sit and take a look at what I have upcoming as I follow the anniversary and being to get back into the process of more regularly scheduled content.
So let me please do my best to entice you with the things I have planned.
A Brand New Project
So firstly I need to introduce my brand new project. I am creating a series of what I'm calling Fandom Primers. I posted a short video enquiring about this project a while ago when I first got the idea, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, and so I'm deciding to use some of my prodigious yet obscure knowledge to provide people with a background and introduction to some incredible franchises.
In some cases these are franchises that I have already spoken about before, in some they are franchises I have little to talk about besides using this chance to gush about them, and in a minority of cases they may be franchises that I am taking my first steps into as well. My goal is to explain, in ten minutes or less, what the franchise is, some of its best or most notable features, and most importantly where to begin as a new fan.
This is an idea that I am very excited about, and very much looking forward to. I'm going to debut this with the first couple of episodes this weekend, and then the plan is for a new Primer to release every month, on the first Saturday. For those who follow my efforts in video on YouTube rather than in audio I'm planning to release these as vertical videos, as their short run time will mean that I can also host them in more places, such as Instagram and Tiktok, because I obviously want these to reach as many people as possible.
Venturing into Voiceovers
Speaking of Tiktok, I recently posted a video there of me doing a reading of my favourite short story, They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson, and it has become far and away the most successful thing I have ever posted online, with tens of thousands of views, thousands of likes, and hundreds of shares, as well as plenty of comments requesting more audio stories. As a result I felt it would be silly not to capitalise on this, and so I am seeking other ideas to read in video form, either as complete stories or short excerpts. I have already recorded and released the short story Those Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin, split into two parts, with several other complete short stories to follow, and several other ideas planned. I have no set ideas for a timeline of when these will release, but I think I would like to get one reading up a week if possible, provided that I can find suitable material. I will probably also look towards releasing these in audio form for my podcast only listeners in the future, but in the meantime I will share the videos on all of my social media spaces.
It also has the side benefit of helping me to build a portfolio of work, should anyone be interested in using me for further voiceover, which I would love to be honest.
Featured Episodes
So, back to the topic of the podcast.
I have had a, disappointing, track record when it comes to maintaining a regular schedule regarding episodes, and I think a large part of the reason why is because I have so many ideas, so many things I want to talk about, and I cannot possibly manage to do everything.
And so I am deciding to step back a bit in some ways, but its more a question of narrowing my focus. I am only planning a single Featured Episode every month. This means that every month of the year you will get an episode from me, giving you at least an hour of brand new content, but most likely much more if my track record is anything to go by. So that is a guaranteed 12 brand new episodes per year minimum.
As to the content of these episodes, while I don't want to give all of my secrets and plans away, I can confirm the content of the first episodes to look forward to over the next six months, which I am planning to release on the fourth Saturday of every month.
The first, which will be releasing later this month, is a retrospective review and analysis of the Marvel films at Twentieth Century Fox. This is primarily then a focus on the X-Men film series, and its attempts at bringing that rich mythos from the comics to life, but I will also be looking at the efforts regarding the Fantastic Four and Daredevil as well, along with some surprising plans that unfortunately fell through. Part of the episode will also look at how these characters have been incorporated so far into the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Deadpool and Wolverine and Fantastic Four: First Steps, but also what we might expect to follow in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
May's episode will be a discussion of Disney's efforts with Star Wars since its acquisition of the property, with a focus mainly on the films and series that it has released, but there will probably also be some discussion of the greater expanded canon of the novels, comics and video games. I have a lot of opinions about the things Disney has done with Star Wars, many of which seem to differ with a lot of other fan responses that I have seen online, and so I am looking forward to discussing them all, even if I am a bit nervous about the heated responses I am sure to receive.
In June I will be doing something that it seems that every geek discussion channel seems to do eventually, as I take the first of what I am sure will be several forays into the Transformers franchise, looking at Generation 1 of this classic show, which includes the infamous yet beloved Transformers the Movie, which is turning 40 years old this year, and how it changed the original series, as well as looking at the later parts of the franchise that return to this continuity.
July will give me an opportunity to look back at some of the most influential and famous superhero media ever made, as well as discuss my favourite film of last year, as I discuss the development of Superman in films and television. From the classic Max Fleischer cartoons and Christopher Reeve's iconic performance, through Lois and Clark and Smallville, to Man of Steel and the DCU foundation, I am going to be looking at different versions of Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor and how each of these iterations develops their own takes on these iconic characters.
August will see me venturing into the works of Stephen King for the first time, as I begin my mission to read more from this prolific author, beginning the journey to the Dark Tower series. For this first episode I will be looking at the story of The Stand, perhaps his most epic story, which was my first real exposure to his work, and is still considered by many of his fans as one of his best. Its a story that starts with the end of the world and combines a horrific viral outbreak, religious imagery and the human condition to explore what happens next.
And then for September I return to Star Trek, with an episode I've been planning for some time, as I take a look at the return of the fan-favourite Jean-Luc Picard and his friends and enemies from the seminal The Next Generation and discuss whether the Picard show was able to replicate the magic of one of the most impactful science-fiction shows of all time, or if thirty years was just too long to wait for this legacy sequel.
Beyond that while I won't give further details yet I plan to look at franchises such as Resident Evil and Godzilla for the first time, as well as returning to Doctor Who, exploring Twin Peaks and the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and beginning to venture into some of the most influential anime franchises of all time.
In short, there is a lot to look forward to, but that is far from all I have planned.
But Wait, There's More!
So if you have seen any of my other updates in the past and seen episodes I have discussed working on in the past, then you may have noticed a few glaring ommissions in the above list.
And this is because yes, I am indeed working on other episodes, but for the most part these are episodes that I know require a lot more work or research, and so I have decided that these will not be planned feature episodes, and will instead be done when they are ready.
So what sort of things can you look forward to here?
Well the first that fans might expect is the third part of my X-Men retrospective. I know I have missed some events in my past restrospectives that I may need to reference in the new one, and the amount of comics in this period, their interconnected nature, and how much they interact with the wider Marvel Universe, means that this chapter requires a lot more work than the previous ones, as I am having to read and reread a lot more comics than the previous eras, which I was much more familiar with. However I still expect it to release at some point within the next six months.
The next episode that I have definitely mentioned before is my analysis of the Doom franchise, specifically a discussion of its remarkably expansive lore, especially due to reveals in the latest games that reveal that the entire franchise is telling a single story despite spreading across worlds and time. I honestly find these reveals fascinating, and so I am diving deeply into everything to make sure I tell the complete story, although I am sure the forthcoming DLC for the latest game will add even more to unravel, and so this episode may take a bit longer, but I hope that it will be well worth the wait.
And all of this is also without potentially doing any follow-ups to previous episodes, such as for example seeing how Amazon's The Boys concludes and adapts the ending of that comic series later this year, or doing a catch-up on the five Alien and Predator projects that have released since I last looked at that franchise.
I am also planning to remaster a couple of my older episodes, specifically the shortest ones. The first of these will be the episode discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. I don't think that I did this incredible film justice in my original episode, and this particular corner of the franchise has also received a lot of development recently across television and video games, making it one of the more interesting depictions of this franchise, and so I intend to return to it and give this take on the Turtles a more in-depth discussion, rather than just the simple review it had previously.
Although speaking of reviews...
Reviewing Geek Classics
Part of the reason that I began my podcast was to check films, games, comics and series off of my ever-expanding list, and while I have been doing that, I have also found myself with things to say on most of it, and so have looked for ways to make full episodes for things that perhaps do not require such a huge amount of discussion.
Two of my previous episodes were sort of end-of-year review round-ups, looking at some of these smaller projects that I have seen over the course of that year, with content that I couldn't really make a full episode anywhere else but still wanted to discuss. And so I want to bring back this approach, discussing some of the newest films that I may watch throughout the year, such as The Running Man, Project: Hail Mary and Cold Storage.
But I also want to apply this approach to some of the items on my list, most especially films that I would consider to be some of the most influential and referenced works of science fiction and fantasy. Now this could be landmark projects such as Forbidden Planet, Westworld and Logan's Run that I saw as a youngster and am now approaching with an adult eye. It could be cult classics like Conan the Barbarian, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Demolition Man. It could be childhood favourites like The NeverEnding Story, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Labyrinth. It could be standalone adaptations like Constantine, Lost in Space and Flash Gordon. And it could even be incredibly derided works such as Waterworld, Catwoman, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. No matter what the films or their quality, when I have a collection of films based around a similar subject, whether comic book adaptations, dystopian futures, alien encounters, or whatever else, I will be releasing these collected reviews. I already have several recorded, and many more in the pipeline, and these, like the episodes I mentioned above, will be more of a background project and so will be released when they are ready.
And that's not the only background project I am working on as I address my list.
Garhdo Goes Gaming
So one thing I started doing some time ago, let fall by the wayside, and yet would really like to get back to, is streaming.
Now I have a secondary channel on YouTube where I host the videos from my previous streams, yet I haven't uploaded anything there for a while. I have several previous streams recorded and saved on my computer, ready to upload. I have other streams already on the channel but private, as I still have some things to do with them, such as chapter marks and thumbnails and other things like that, and I fully intend to do that, but I also want to get back to the act of streaming itself, playing games that have been on my list to play for a while, and sharing them with an audience, as well as going back to some old favourites and discussing them as I replay them.
And so again while I don't have a timeline for editing these older videos, I am planning to get back into a regular streaming schedule, and I think the best time for this, for me, is every Saturday at 9pm (UTC). How long I will be on for might change, week to week, but I intend to stream directly from my Xbox at that time every week, and while I will get back to some games I have started previously when the past videos are uploaded, namely Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Batman: Arkham Asylum, I am going to start by playing some new games, with Fallout: New Vegas, Control, Fable and Bioshock as my first few games, so I invite as many of you who are interested to come and join me as I explore these games. Each stream will be live on Twitch on the night, active there for a week or so, and then live on the YouTube page a week later.
Besides streaming and the podcast, there is one other area where I am focusing some creativity.
My Blog Page
On my blog up until now I have had two main types of project.
The first, is updates. While I put big updates in other places as well, I was in the habit of posting an update every few months saying what I was working on, and I intend to continue this, as I can give updates on a lot of those side projects in this form quite easily.
One of the most successful things I have put on the blog however, and to me one of the most useful things in terms of supporting my other content, is my Watch and Reading orders and Timeline projects. I have done several quite large ones, such as Watch Orders for Star Trek and the complete Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, a combined Timeline of every film, comic and novel in the combined Aliens and Predator universe, and a filler-free Watch Order for the entire Power Rangers franchise. So I do want to expand upon this, and I have several future entries like these that I am already working on at various levels, with the two that I expect to release next being a look at the complete Star Wars canon, taking a look at every film series, novel, game and completed comic run since Disney bought the franchise, and a detailed Timeline for the Jurassic Park series, using supporting documents from the online AR game to fill in backstory for certain events, and combining the events of the television shows Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory with the films of the Jurassic World franchise that they overlap directly with.
Beyond this though there are things I want to do more of on my blog. Firstly is an editorial where I go into some more depth about the brand new DC Cinematic Universe, especially in trying to understand what, if anything, still remains as canon from the previous DC Extended Universe. So I already have Creature Commandos and Peacemaker Season 2 queued up to explore this, but with Supergirl, Lanterns and Clayface also expected this year I'm sure that this will be an interesting project.
Next, after a recent blog that I had a lot of fun making where I did a Thought Experiment and pictched my own complete take on what the MCU could have looked like had Marvel had all of its rights from the very beginning, which I may turn into a podcast of its own in the future, I've decided to work on another Pitch. This time I am giving my idea on how to reboot the Power Rangers franchise, one of my favourites with a rich legacy, and one that just like Marvel has had several adaptations to other media in recent years showing what can be done, but as a reboot film or series is constantly being discussed in the entertainment press I thought I might give my own ideas for how to create something new, yet familiar, that capitalises on a brand new audience, while still honouring the wider franchise.
Finally, with the recent announcement that the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 will be arriving this summer, and my own personal belief that Warhammer really does have something for everyone, I am planning to do a series of blogs that I hope will help to introduce elements of this franchise in a way that can highlight some of its best features, while also providing a guide to something that in many ways can feel inscrutable to an outsider. So expect discussions of the different armies and models, the expansive lore, and even a Reading Order for the newest novels in the franchise, and a Guide to get the best stories in the long but best-selling Horus Heresy novel series.
And I have one other idea to build content on the blog, or possibly even an expansion elsewhere, perhaps to a self-contained website if I can get the help I need to do so, and that is to provide complete transcripts of my podcast episodes there. The reason for this is it will help to make the content of these episodes much more accessible, and also allow me to make comments and follow-up on some of my older content. For this I have been seeking help from a friend to transcribe my older episodes, and I will be paying them for this work, as with over 80 episodes this is not a small task, and that brings me to the final thing I want to talk about.
Commissions For Sale
So I have had a Ko-Fi page for quite a while now, where you can not only tip me, but where I also offer commissions. The only commission purchased so far is the episode I did on the Skibidi Toilet series, when a long-time supporter of the channel decided to call my bluff after an April Fools Day joke I made some time ago, however I do have some others available to purchase, including a deep dive at the much-maligned Twilight franchise, and a commission for me to try to unravel the seemingly incomprehensible (to me at least) lore of the Kingdom Hearts series, a commission that I am slightly terrified someone will buy, even if I do somewhat relish what would likely be an extraordinary challenge.
However I am also looking towards constructing more concrete goals for possible memberships, and I am looking at a Patreon page as well. There are many things that I would love to do to grow this podcast and my content, and unfortunately due to existing under late stage capitalism most of these require funding, and so I want the people who want to support me with this to get a decent reward for doing so. Things like shoutouts in the credits, access to exclusive content, and behind the scenes updates all come to mind as obvious rewards, but I want to offer more if I can.
I'm not sure when these new changes will be active yet, but I'm hoping to have the new pages set up and ready for the release of this month's Featured Episode. So watch this space I guess!
And so that is all I have for now, I hope that people are as excited by some of the new things I am offering as I am about bringing them to you, and that you have something here to look forward to. As always I welcome any feedback, comments or other support, and I ask that you please all do the very best that you can to look after your physical and mental health in these trying times. I want to thank you all for your continued support, and I hope you will all join me again very soon.
Until next time my friends.
--
Garhdo
It was very recently the fifth anniversary of my podcast, and I released my first new episode for some time, and so I thought I might sit and take a look at what I have upcoming as I follow the anniversary and being to get back into the process of more regularly scheduled content.
So let me please do my best to entice you with the things I have planned.
A Brand New Project
So firstly I need to introduce my brand new project. I am creating a series of what I'm calling Fandom Primers. I posted a short video enquiring about this project a while ago when I first got the idea, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, and so I'm deciding to use some of my prodigious yet obscure knowledge to provide people with a background and introduction to some incredible franchises.
In some cases these are franchises that I have already spoken about before, in some they are franchises I have little to talk about besides using this chance to gush about them, and in a minority of cases they may be franchises that I am taking my first steps into as well. My goal is to explain, in ten minutes or less, what the franchise is, some of its best or most notable features, and most importantly where to begin as a new fan.
This is an idea that I am very excited about, and very much looking forward to. I'm going to debut this with the first couple of episodes this weekend, and then the plan is for a new Primer to release every month, on the first Saturday. For those who follow my efforts in video on YouTube rather than in audio I'm planning to release these as vertical videos, as their short run time will mean that I can also host them in more places, such as Instagram and Tiktok, because I obviously want these to reach as many people as possible.
Venturing into Voiceovers
Speaking of Tiktok, I recently posted a video there of me doing a reading of my favourite short story, They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson, and it has become far and away the most successful thing I have ever posted online, with tens of thousands of views, thousands of likes, and hundreds of shares, as well as plenty of comments requesting more audio stories. As a result I felt it would be silly not to capitalise on this, and so I am seeking other ideas to read in video form, either as complete stories or short excerpts. I have already recorded and released the short story Those Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin, split into two parts, with several other complete short stories to follow, and several other ideas planned. I have no set ideas for a timeline of when these will release, but I think I would like to get one reading up a week if possible, provided that I can find suitable material. I will probably also look towards releasing these in audio form for my podcast only listeners in the future, but in the meantime I will share the videos on all of my social media spaces.
It also has the side benefit of helping me to build a portfolio of work, should anyone be interested in using me for further voiceover, which I would love to be honest.
Featured Episodes
So, back to the topic of the podcast.
I have had a, disappointing, track record when it comes to maintaining a regular schedule regarding episodes, and I think a large part of the reason why is because I have so many ideas, so many things I want to talk about, and I cannot possibly manage to do everything.
And so I am deciding to step back a bit in some ways, but its more a question of narrowing my focus. I am only planning a single Featured Episode every month. This means that every month of the year you will get an episode from me, giving you at least an hour of brand new content, but most likely much more if my track record is anything to go by. So that is a guaranteed 12 brand new episodes per year minimum.
As to the content of these episodes, while I don't want to give all of my secrets and plans away, I can confirm the content of the first episodes to look forward to over the next six months, which I am planning to release on the fourth Saturday of every month.
The first, which will be releasing later this month, is a retrospective review and analysis of the Marvel films at Twentieth Century Fox. This is primarily then a focus on the X-Men film series, and its attempts at bringing that rich mythos from the comics to life, but I will also be looking at the efforts regarding the Fantastic Four and Daredevil as well, along with some surprising plans that unfortunately fell through. Part of the episode will also look at how these characters have been incorporated so far into the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Deadpool and Wolverine and Fantastic Four: First Steps, but also what we might expect to follow in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
May's episode will be a discussion of Disney's efforts with Star Wars since its acquisition of the property, with a focus mainly on the films and series that it has released, but there will probably also be some discussion of the greater expanded canon of the novels, comics and video games. I have a lot of opinions about the things Disney has done with Star Wars, many of which seem to differ with a lot of other fan responses that I have seen online, and so I am looking forward to discussing them all, even if I am a bit nervous about the heated responses I am sure to receive.
In June I will be doing something that it seems that every geek discussion channel seems to do eventually, as I take the first of what I am sure will be several forays into the Transformers franchise, looking at Generation 1 of this classic show, which includes the infamous yet beloved Transformers the Movie, which is turning 40 years old this year, and how it changed the original series, as well as looking at the later parts of the franchise that return to this continuity.
July will give me an opportunity to look back at some of the most influential and famous superhero media ever made, as well as discuss my favourite film of last year, as I discuss the development of Superman in films and television. From the classic Max Fleischer cartoons and Christopher Reeve's iconic performance, through Lois and Clark and Smallville, to Man of Steel and the DCU foundation, I am going to be looking at different versions of Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor and how each of these iterations develops their own takes on these iconic characters.
August will see me venturing into the works of Stephen King for the first time, as I begin my mission to read more from this prolific author, beginning the journey to the Dark Tower series. For this first episode I will be looking at the story of The Stand, perhaps his most epic story, which was my first real exposure to his work, and is still considered by many of his fans as one of his best. Its a story that starts with the end of the world and combines a horrific viral outbreak, religious imagery and the human condition to explore what happens next.
And then for September I return to Star Trek, with an episode I've been planning for some time, as I take a look at the return of the fan-favourite Jean-Luc Picard and his friends and enemies from the seminal The Next Generation and discuss whether the Picard show was able to replicate the magic of one of the most impactful science-fiction shows of all time, or if thirty years was just too long to wait for this legacy sequel.
Beyond that while I won't give further details yet I plan to look at franchises such as Resident Evil and Godzilla for the first time, as well as returning to Doctor Who, exploring Twin Peaks and the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and beginning to venture into some of the most influential anime franchises of all time.
In short, there is a lot to look forward to, but that is far from all I have planned.
But Wait, There's More!
So if you have seen any of my other updates in the past and seen episodes I have discussed working on in the past, then you may have noticed a few glaring ommissions in the above list.
And this is because yes, I am indeed working on other episodes, but for the most part these are episodes that I know require a lot more work or research, and so I have decided that these will not be planned feature episodes, and will instead be done when they are ready.
So what sort of things can you look forward to here?
Well the first that fans might expect is the third part of my X-Men retrospective. I know I have missed some events in my past restrospectives that I may need to reference in the new one, and the amount of comics in this period, their interconnected nature, and how much they interact with the wider Marvel Universe, means that this chapter requires a lot more work than the previous ones, as I am having to read and reread a lot more comics than the previous eras, which I was much more familiar with. However I still expect it to release at some point within the next six months.
The next episode that I have definitely mentioned before is my analysis of the Doom franchise, specifically a discussion of its remarkably expansive lore, especially due to reveals in the latest games that reveal that the entire franchise is telling a single story despite spreading across worlds and time. I honestly find these reveals fascinating, and so I am diving deeply into everything to make sure I tell the complete story, although I am sure the forthcoming DLC for the latest game will add even more to unravel, and so this episode may take a bit longer, but I hope that it will be well worth the wait.
And all of this is also without potentially doing any follow-ups to previous episodes, such as for example seeing how Amazon's The Boys concludes and adapts the ending of that comic series later this year, or doing a catch-up on the five Alien and Predator projects that have released since I last looked at that franchise.
I am also planning to remaster a couple of my older episodes, specifically the shortest ones. The first of these will be the episode discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. I don't think that I did this incredible film justice in my original episode, and this particular corner of the franchise has also received a lot of development recently across television and video games, making it one of the more interesting depictions of this franchise, and so I intend to return to it and give this take on the Turtles a more in-depth discussion, rather than just the simple review it had previously.
Although speaking of reviews...
Reviewing Geek Classics
Part of the reason that I began my podcast was to check films, games, comics and series off of my ever-expanding list, and while I have been doing that, I have also found myself with things to say on most of it, and so have looked for ways to make full episodes for things that perhaps do not require such a huge amount of discussion.
Two of my previous episodes were sort of end-of-year review round-ups, looking at some of these smaller projects that I have seen over the course of that year, with content that I couldn't really make a full episode anywhere else but still wanted to discuss. And so I want to bring back this approach, discussing some of the newest films that I may watch throughout the year, such as The Running Man, Project: Hail Mary and Cold Storage.
But I also want to apply this approach to some of the items on my list, most especially films that I would consider to be some of the most influential and referenced works of science fiction and fantasy. Now this could be landmark projects such as Forbidden Planet, Westworld and Logan's Run that I saw as a youngster and am now approaching with an adult eye. It could be cult classics like Conan the Barbarian, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Demolition Man. It could be childhood favourites like The NeverEnding Story, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Labyrinth. It could be standalone adaptations like Constantine, Lost in Space and Flash Gordon. And it could even be incredibly derided works such as Waterworld, Catwoman, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. No matter what the films or their quality, when I have a collection of films based around a similar subject, whether comic book adaptations, dystopian futures, alien encounters, or whatever else, I will be releasing these collected reviews. I already have several recorded, and many more in the pipeline, and these, like the episodes I mentioned above, will be more of a background project and so will be released when they are ready.
And that's not the only background project I am working on as I address my list.
Garhdo Goes Gaming
So one thing I started doing some time ago, let fall by the wayside, and yet would really like to get back to, is streaming.
Now I have a secondary channel on YouTube where I host the videos from my previous streams, yet I haven't uploaded anything there for a while. I have several previous streams recorded and saved on my computer, ready to upload. I have other streams already on the channel but private, as I still have some things to do with them, such as chapter marks and thumbnails and other things like that, and I fully intend to do that, but I also want to get back to the act of streaming itself, playing games that have been on my list to play for a while, and sharing them with an audience, as well as going back to some old favourites and discussing them as I replay them.
And so again while I don't have a timeline for editing these older videos, I am planning to get back into a regular streaming schedule, and I think the best time for this, for me, is every Saturday at 9pm (UTC). How long I will be on for might change, week to week, but I intend to stream directly from my Xbox at that time every week, and while I will get back to some games I have started previously when the past videos are uploaded, namely Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Lego Marvel Super Heroes and Batman: Arkham Asylum, I am going to start by playing some new games, with Fallout: New Vegas, Control, Fable and Bioshock as my first few games, so I invite as many of you who are interested to come and join me as I explore these games. Each stream will be live on Twitch on the night, active there for a week or so, and then live on the YouTube page a week later.
Besides streaming and the podcast, there is one other area where I am focusing some creativity.
My Blog Page
On my blog up until now I have had two main types of project.
The first, is updates. While I put big updates in other places as well, I was in the habit of posting an update every few months saying what I was working on, and I intend to continue this, as I can give updates on a lot of those side projects in this form quite easily.
One of the most successful things I have put on the blog however, and to me one of the most useful things in terms of supporting my other content, is my Watch and Reading orders and Timeline projects. I have done several quite large ones, such as Watch Orders for Star Trek and the complete Marvel Cinematic Multiverse, a combined Timeline of every film, comic and novel in the combined Aliens and Predator universe, and a filler-free Watch Order for the entire Power Rangers franchise. So I do want to expand upon this, and I have several future entries like these that I am already working on at various levels, with the two that I expect to release next being a look at the complete Star Wars canon, taking a look at every film series, novel, game and completed comic run since Disney bought the franchise, and a detailed Timeline for the Jurassic Park series, using supporting documents from the online AR game to fill in backstory for certain events, and combining the events of the television shows Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory with the films of the Jurassic World franchise that they overlap directly with.
Beyond this though there are things I want to do more of on my blog. Firstly is an editorial where I go into some more depth about the brand new DC Cinematic Universe, especially in trying to understand what, if anything, still remains as canon from the previous DC Extended Universe. So I already have Creature Commandos and Peacemaker Season 2 queued up to explore this, but with Supergirl, Lanterns and Clayface also expected this year I'm sure that this will be an interesting project.
Next, after a recent blog that I had a lot of fun making where I did a Thought Experiment and pictched my own complete take on what the MCU could have looked like had Marvel had all of its rights from the very beginning, which I may turn into a podcast of its own in the future, I've decided to work on another Pitch. This time I am giving my idea on how to reboot the Power Rangers franchise, one of my favourites with a rich legacy, and one that just like Marvel has had several adaptations to other media in recent years showing what can be done, but as a reboot film or series is constantly being discussed in the entertainment press I thought I might give my own ideas for how to create something new, yet familiar, that capitalises on a brand new audience, while still honouring the wider franchise.
Finally, with the recent announcement that the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 will be arriving this summer, and my own personal belief that Warhammer really does have something for everyone, I am planning to do a series of blogs that I hope will help to introduce elements of this franchise in a way that can highlight some of its best features, while also providing a guide to something that in many ways can feel inscrutable to an outsider. So expect discussions of the different armies and models, the expansive lore, and even a Reading Order for the newest novels in the franchise, and a Guide to get the best stories in the long but best-selling Horus Heresy novel series.
And I have one other idea to build content on the blog, or possibly even an expansion elsewhere, perhaps to a self-contained website if I can get the help I need to do so, and that is to provide complete transcripts of my podcast episodes there. The reason for this is it will help to make the content of these episodes much more accessible, and also allow me to make comments and follow-up on some of my older content. For this I have been seeking help from a friend to transcribe my older episodes, and I will be paying them for this work, as with over 80 episodes this is not a small task, and that brings me to the final thing I want to talk about.
Commissions For Sale
So I have had a Ko-Fi page for quite a while now, where you can not only tip me, but where I also offer commissions. The only commission purchased so far is the episode I did on the Skibidi Toilet series, when a long-time supporter of the channel decided to call my bluff after an April Fools Day joke I made some time ago, however I do have some others available to purchase, including a deep dive at the much-maligned Twilight franchise, and a commission for me to try to unravel the seemingly incomprehensible (to me at least) lore of the Kingdom Hearts series, a commission that I am slightly terrified someone will buy, even if I do somewhat relish what would likely be an extraordinary challenge.
However I am also looking towards constructing more concrete goals for possible memberships, and I am looking at a Patreon page as well. There are many things that I would love to do to grow this podcast and my content, and unfortunately due to existing under late stage capitalism most of these require funding, and so I want the people who want to support me with this to get a decent reward for doing so. Things like shoutouts in the credits, access to exclusive content, and behind the scenes updates all come to mind as obvious rewards, but I want to offer more if I can.
I'm not sure when these new changes will be active yet, but I'm hoping to have the new pages set up and ready for the release of this month's Featured Episode. So watch this space I guess!
And so that is all I have for now, I hope that people are as excited by some of the new things I am offering as I am about bringing them to you, and that you have something here to look forward to. As always I welcome any feedback, comments or other support, and I ask that you please all do the very best that you can to look after your physical and mental health in these trying times. I want to thank you all for your continued support, and I hope you will all join me again very soon.
Until next time my friends.
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Garhdo
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